An Ontology for RFCs

Abstract

This document defines an ontology that describes the specifications published by the RFC Editor, together with ancillary documents.¶

1. Introduction

This document defines an ontology that describes the specifications published by the RFC Editor, together with ancillary documents like errata and RFC series.¶

This effort is the continuation of the RFC-Prolog database that was described in one of the position papers presented at the IAB Workshop on Analyzing IETF Data (AID) [RFC9307]. The schema in that database was simplified and reformulated as an ontology.¶

2. The RFC Ontology

The RFC Ontology extends the Bibliographic Ontology [BIBO] and reuse elements from the Friend of a friend [FOAF] and DCMI Metadata Terms [DCTERMS] ontologies.¶

3. IANA Considerations

No IANA considerations in this document.¶

4. Security Considerations

The information in that document are derived from publicly available databases, so they do not present more security risk.¶

5. Informative References

[BIBO]

D'Arcus, B., Giasson, F., and DCMI Usage Board, "Bibliographic Ontology", 11 November 2009, <https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/bibo/>.

[DCTERMS]

DCMI Usage Board, "DCMI Metadata Terms", 20 January 2020, <https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dcmi-terms/>.

[ErgoAI]

"ErgoAI", Accessed 22 July 2023, <https://github.com/ErgoAI>.

[FOAF]

Brickley, D. and L. Miller, "FOAF Vocabulary Specification 0.99", 14 January 2014, <https://web.archive.org/web/20220518003509/http://xmlns.com/foaf/spec/20140114.html>.

[RFC9307]

ten Oever, N., Cath, C., Kühlewind, M., and C. S. Perkins, "Report from the IAB Workshop on Analyzing IETF Data (AID) 2021", RFC 9307, DOI 10.17487/RFC9307, September 2022, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9307>.

[Zotero]

Corporation for Digital Scholarship, "Zotero | Your personal research assistant", Accessed 20 January 2023, <https://www.zotero.org/>.

Appendix A. Implementation

An implementation of the RFC ontology using the programming language Ergo [ErgoAI] is provided.¶

The "rfcs.ergo" file contains the list of all RFCs, BCPs, STDs, and FYIs.¶

The following example shows an RFC metadata encoded in Ergo:¶

\"https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9306":rfc#Rfc
  [ rfc#number -> 9306
  , terms#title ->
'Vendor-Specific LISP Canonical Address Format (LCAF)'
  , terms#creator -> {\#1, \#2, \#3, \#4, \#5}
  , bibo#authorList -> [\#1, \#2, \#3, \#4, \#5]
  , rfc#date -> '2022-10'
  , terms#format ->
{'text/html', 'text/plain', 'application/pdf', 'text/xml'}
  , rfc#keyword ->
{'lisp', 'lcaf', 'internal', 'domain', 'organization', 'private'}
  , bibo#abstract -> 'This document describes a ...'
  , terms#isVersionOf ->
\"https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-lisp-vendor-lcaf-12"
  , rfc#updates ->
{\"https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8060":rfc#Rfc}
  , rfc#publicationStatus -> rfc#experimental
  , rfc#currentStatus -> rfc#experimental
  , rfc#stream -> rfc#ietf
  , rfc#area -> 'rtg'
  , rfc#wg -> 'lisp'
  , bibo#doi -> '10.17487/RFC9306'
  , rfc#normativelyReferences ->
    { \"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6847097"
    , \"https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119"
    , \"https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8060"
    , \"https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126"
    , \"https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174"
    , \"https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9300"
    , \"https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9301"
    }
    ]
  , \#1:foaf#Person
    [ foaf#name -> 'Alberto Rodriguez-Natal'
    , foaf#familyName -> 'Rodriguez-Natal'
    , rfc#initials -> 'A.'
    ]
  , \#2:foaf#Person
    [ foaf#name -> 'Vina Ermagan'
    , foaf#familyName -> 'Ermagan'
    , rfc#initials -> 'V.'
    ]
  , \#3:foaf#Person
    [ foaf#name -> 'Anton Smirnov'
    , foaf#familyName -> 'Smirnov'
    , rfc#initials -> 'A.'
    ]
  , \#4:foaf#Person
    [ foaf#name -> 'Vrushali Ashtaputre'
    , foaf#familyName -> 'Ashtaputre'
    , rfc#initials -> 'V.'
    ]
  , \#5:foaf#Person
    [ foaf#name -> 'Dino Farinacci'
    , foaf#familyName -> 'Farinacci'
    , rfc#initials -> 'D.'
    ]
  .

Comments on some non-obvious encoding:¶

• "terms#creator" contains the set of authors. This uses a Skolem symbol to represents the fact that we do not have a resource for the person, but we want to define it only once (equivalent to a blank node). The mathematically inclined can think of this as an existential quantifier ("there exists a person named…​").¶
• "terms#editor", not present in this example, would contain the set of editors.¶
• "bibo#authorList" contains the ordered list of all authors and editors.¶
• "rfc#normativelyReferences" or "rfc#informativeReferences" are difficult to parse in RFCs that were not published in xml2rfc format, so this is currently work in progress.¶

The following example shows a BCP encoded in Ergo:¶

\"https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/bcp0003":rfc#Bcp
  [ rfc#number -> 3
  , bibo#hasPart ->
    { \"https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1915"
    }
  ].

STD and FYI are encoded similarly, substituting respectively "rfc#Std" and "rfc#Fyi" to "rfc#Bcp".¶

The "errata.flr" file contains the list of all Errata.¶

The following example shows an Errata encoded in Ergo:¶

\"https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid5866":rfc#Errata
  [ rfc#id -> 5866
  , rfc#corrects -> \"https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc0005":rfc#Rfc
  , rfc#type -> rfc#editorial
  , rfc#status -> rfc#verified
  , rfc#reportedBy -> \#:foaf#Person[foaf#name -> 'Martin Thomson']
  , rfc#reportedOn -> "2019-09-26"^^\date
  , rfc#processedBy -> \#:foaf#Person[foaf#name -> 'Benjamin Kaduk']
  , rfc#processedOn -> "2019-09-26"^^\date
  ].

The git repository also contains a [Zotero] importer for the same "rfc-index.xml" file that is used to build the "rfcs.flr" file. The simplest way to install it is to create a symbolic link for the "RFC-Index.js" file in the subdirectory "translators" of the "~/.zotero" directory.¶

git clone git://shalmaneser.org/VejlapAknul1 rfc-ontology-ergo

Acknowledgements

Thanks to John Levine and Robert Sparks for their help in gathering the information used for populating the knowledge graphs.¶

Thanks to Scott Hollenbeck and Carsten Bormann for the ideas for the example queries.¶

No technology that cannot explain its own results (LLM, AI/ML) have been involved in the creation of this document or its associated tooling.¶

Changelog

draft-petithuguenin-rfc-ontology-04:

• Document:¶

  • Fixed the examples.¶

• Repository:¶

  • Update the scripts to use python venv.¶

draft-petithuguenin-rfc-ontology-03:

• Document:¶

  • Replaced Flora-2 with Ergo.¶
  • Update examples.¶

• Repository:¶

  • Fixed some type-checking issues.¶

draft-petithuguenin-rfc-ontology-02:

• Document:¶

  • Add Internet-Draft class.¶
  • Add two examples of queries.¶
  • Add explanations for the Zotero importer for rfc-index.xml.¶
  • Add Docker command line.¶

• Repository:¶

  • New Dockerfile.¶
  • The errata are now ordered by id.¶
  • Errata generation now is done in two steps.¶
  • The text of the errata is no longer saved.¶
  • The list of RFC is now stored in /tmp.¶

draft-petithuguenin-rfc-ontology-01:

• Document:¶

  • Change the ontology iri to something resolvable.¶
  • Reorder the range/domain.¶

• Repository:¶

  • Move the rfc.xml file to an ftp server so it can be loaded in Protege.¶